Massage-on-demand company, Soothe, raises $31 million

The massage-on-demand service Soothe seems to be rubbing investors the right way with the close of a new $31 million round of funding.

The Series C round from late-stage and growth capital investment firm, The Riverside Company, caps a busy first quarter for the massage service. It also relocated from Los Angeles to Las Vegas; named a new chief executive; and announced new geographies where its massage booking platform is now available. 

As part of the new round, chief executive and founder Merlin Kauffman is stepping down from the role and assuming the mantle of executive chairman. Current chief financial officer Simon Heyrick is stepping into the chief executive role.

The former CFO of MarketShare, Heyrick has helped the company expand to more than 11,000 massage therapists in its network.

The company said the new round would help keep massage therapists in its network with pricing that can be up to three times more than those therapists would make in their local markets.

Beyond the new financing and a new boss, Soothe also is heading to new markets, launching services in Manchester, U.K.; Australia’s Gold Coast, Pittsburgh and Hartford, Conn. (some of those places are not like the others).

Soothe isn’t the only player in the massage marketplace. New York-based Zeel also has an offering for folks who want to book massages on the fly. Zeel claims a geographic reach of 85 U.S. cities, while Soothe claims roughly 60 cities worldwide.

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